‘What kind of odds are you comfortable with?’: The North Korean nuclear threat is looming larger

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attending an intensive artillery drill of the KPA artillery units in an image released by KCNA in Pyongyang.

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KCNA via Reuters

WASHINGTON, DC – The only nation to have used nuclear weapons this century will be able to strike Seattle in four years, former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden said on Wednesday.

“I really do think that it is very likely by the end of Mr. Trump’s first term the North Koreans will be able to reach Seattle with a nuclear weapon onboard an indigenously produced intercontinental ballistic missile,” Hayden said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

“Now, will it be a high-probability shot? They have technical issues, so probably not,” Hayden said. “But then again, what kind of odds are you comfortable with when it comes to Pyongyang?”

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A man watching a TV news program showing a North Korean missile launch on October 20.

Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow of Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation and former CIA deputy division chief for Korea, says the North Korean threat isn’t four years away – it’s nearly here.

“Hayden is a bit behind the curve on the North Korea ICBM threat,” Klingner told Business Insider.

“After the December 2012 launch, the South Korean navy dredged up off the ocean floor the stages of the North Korean missile,” Klingner said. “South Korean and US officials assessed the missile had a 10,000-kilometer range, which covers a large part of the US.”